U.S. Ambassador Carjacked in Lomé

(Photo of Ambassador Patricia Hawkins)

U.S. Ambassador to Togo Patricia Hawkins and her party were carjacked late Friday night by two men armed with AK-47s, according to Togolaise officials in Lomé. She was not injured. In fact, due to the timely intervention of an aggressive police officer, the carjackers were the only casualties. Both of them were declared DRT - Dead Right There - after an exchange of gunfire and a brief attempt to escape in the Ambassador's Land Cruiser.

Here's the bare-bones version that I found on the English language side of the Republic of Togo's website:

Police shot dead two armed robbers after they attempted to hijack a vehicle carrying the U.S. ambassador, Patricia Hawkins, in the capital Lomé.

"One of the crooks was killed on the spot and the second after an exchange of gunfire with the gendarmerie," a police spokesman said.

As well as the ambassador, the vehicle was also carrying the country representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and another U.S. embassy official.

But there are juicier details on the more voluble French language side. Here is my loose translation from a statement that was issued by the Ministry of Security:

On Friday, January 21, 2011 at about 9PM, a vehicle ... of the United States Embassy in Togo, in which were riding her Excellency Ms. Ambassador, her first counselor [Deputy Chief of Mission], driver and the Resident Representative of the UNDP [United Nations Development Programs] was taken in the Bè neighborhood of Lomé.

The thugs fired shots, and stole the vehicle after forcing the occupants to disembark. A member of the police service who fortunately was not far away discreetly approached and opened fire on the thugs, who were armed with assault rifles, as they attempted to flee. He hit one of the thugs, and there followed an exchange of gunfire between the policeman and the second thug who eventually abandoned the stolen vehicle.

Wounded, he went into hiding in a flower hedge approximately 200 meters from the site of the robbery. With the cooperation of the civilian population, his hiding place was discovered, but he died from his injuries a few moments afterward.

Wow. A lone police officer "discreetly" walks up to a pair of carjackers armed with assault rifles who are in the process of driving off in the Ambassador's Land Cruiser, and he kills them both in a running gunfight. Normally, that kind of thing only happens in action movies.

I hope Lomé has an opening on the Ambassador's protective detail, because that's a guy we want on our team.


p.s. - As per the Department's official guidance on carjacking, the Ambassador and the other victims did the right thing in that situation by giving up the vehicle.

Read More

Beware of Foreigners Bearing Gifts

The annual report on foreign swag was published in the Federal Register this week. Full name: "Gifts to Federal Employees from Foreign Government Sources Reported to Employing Agencies in Calendar Year 2009."

As a very, very, minor official myself, the only gifts I've even gotten from foreign government sources were a couple nice but utilitarian pens, some superior knickknacks like a miniature drum of Arabian crude oil, and the like. All far below the level of value that would be reportable. So I'm green with envy to read about some of this boodle.

There were gifts of the edible kind:

Four boxes of dates and twelve bottles of wine given to President Obama by the Algerian President. Value - $500.00. "Disposition - Handled Pursuant to Secret Service Policy."

I wonder how the Secret Service disposes of twelve bottles of wine? Probably not by pouring them out.

There were gifts of the sartorial kind:

Twelve handmade silk ties given to Obama by President Berlusconi of Italy. Value - $1,680.00.

That's a very appropriate choice for a protocol gift, showcasing fine national craftsmanship.

There were fancy pens:

An S.T. Dupont fountain pen, along with a book about S.T. Dupont Limited Editions, given to Obama by President Sarkozy of France. Value - $1,185.00.

I had read that Sarkozy is a fountain pen freak (so am I), so I second that choice.

There were lots of high-end accessories like this one:

Black Christian Dior handbag given to Michele Obama by Carla Sarkozy. Value - $4,500.00.

Handbags cost that much??? I glad my wife isn’t interested in that sort of thing. She just bought a new handbag, and I doubt the price was into the three figure range, much less the mid four figures.

The Saudis are in a gift-giving league of their own, of course:

One pair of silver cuff links, one male watch, one female watch, one silver pen, and one diamond jewelry set including earrings, a ring, and a bracelet, presented in a green leather case. Given to all visiting White House aides on a June 2009 visit. Value - $4,575.00.

I like how the Saudis cover all the bases with an all-purpose goodie bag for lesser dignitaries. Pens, watches, and male and female jewelry, all inside a presentation case that probably doubles as a briefcase. Very nice. They must have a warehouse full of those kits.

There were gifts of the narcissistic kind:

Britain's Queen Elizabeth presented Obama with framed portraits of herself and her husband, Prince Philip. According to news reports that's the gift she gives to all visiting dignitaries.

That occurred during the same 2009 visit at which Obama receprocated by giving the queen an iPod loaded with video and photos of her 2007 trip to the United States. Royalty must like to gaze at it's own image.

There was this rather curious gift:

A bottle of olive oil, given to Obama by Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority. Value - $75

I assume that was a symbolic local product made with Palestinian olives, but, didn't Abbas sort of cheap-out on that gift? That's more like a duty-free store purchase than a protocol gift.

And then there were the guns and knives:

Non-operational Soviet-era chrome pistol in a wooden presentation box, given to William Taylor, Director, Iraq Reconstruction Management Officer, U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Iraq, by the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

Non-operational pistol? Bleah. That's like giving a kid a toy without the batteries.

AKS–74 rifle given to a CIA Employee. Location - On official display at the Agency.

An operational rifle. Now we’re talking.

Metallic dagger with leather backing, leather belt and bone handle, given to Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations of the United States by the Commander of the Royal Saudi Naval Forces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Shotgun and 5 bullets [sic] given to Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense of the United States by the Minister of Defense of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Military dagger with sheath in wooden presentation box given to Defense Secretary Gates by His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Ceremonial sword with case, given to The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General of the United States by The Honorable Dr. Ali Bin Fetais Al-Marri, Attorney General of the State of Qatar.

Six decorative ceremonial weapons presented in a glass case, given to Obama by His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Arab leaders give the coolest gifts, don't they? No contest.

Normally, protocol gifts are delivered to the National Archives for display, or to the General Services Administration for disposal (public auction, I wonder?), or they are retained for official use. But a recipient may choose to purchase the gift and keep it.

Here are two who did:

Three E. Marinella scarves, given to The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, by Italian President Silvio Berlusconi. Value - $877.50. "Location - One scarf to be purchased and personally retained by Member; two scarves transferred to Office of the Clerk."

A 21K gold ring with a green stone, value - $980.00, given to The Honorable Joan Polaschik, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy Tripoli, Libya, by Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi, Leader of the Revolution of the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. "Location - Recipient Wishes to Purchase."

DCM Polaschik must really like that ring. She ought to be relieved that Qadhafi didn't also give her a locket with his photo inside, which was how he expressed his misguided affection for Condoleezza Rice.

I see that our Congressional VIPs sometimes keep the gifts and skip the part where they purchase them:

The Honorable John B. Larson, Member of Congress. Six handmade silk neckties given by the President Berlusconi of Italy. Value - $420.00. "Location - Four ties personally retained by Member; two ties transferred to Office of the Clerk.

The Honorable George Miller, Member of Congress, received eight of Burlusconi's ties and retained four.

The Honorable Bill Pascrell, Jr., Member of Congress, received six ties and kept four.

The report says these three legislators retained the ties, not that they purchased and retained them, the way DCM Polaschik did with her ring.

That is so informative about Congressional ethics. And notice they didn’t keep all the ties, just most of them. As if they were saying "I’ll make a gesture at meeting ethical expectations. I'll turn in two and keep four. That way I’m one-third ethical, in case anybody's counting."

And what’s with those estimated values? Eight ties for $560? Six for $420? That’s $70 apiece. I don't think President Berlusconi gets those custom handmade silk ties out of a discount bin.

By the way, you can see the British equivalent of our swag report here. From the looks of it, the Brits get much less impressive gifts from foreigners than our own officials do. I mean - a travel alarm clock? A bathrobe and slippers? Even our most junior Congressman would turn his nose up at that kind of trifle.

Read More

Obituary For A Consulate Office Building

Consumer Notice: This post is certified 100% free of Matters of Official Concern that are not referenced from publicly available sources of information.

Domani Spero's post about the decommissioning of the old U.S Consulate office building in Karachi, Pakistan, put me in a reflective mood. My little niche in the Department has long been involved in the Department's efforts to better protect the old building and its occupants until it could be replaced with new and more secure facilities, and I find I have a tiny bit of nostalgia for the place now that it's finally been vacated. So I feel like saying a few words over the architectural remains, as it were.

When the modern state of Pakistan was established in 1947, it's capitol was in Karachi. (The current capitol, Islamabad, was created in the early 1960s as a planned city.) The U.S. Mission to Pakistan was then housed in a few rooms above an auto store, a place so disreputable that a visiting U.S. Congressman insisted it should be replaced with a purpose-built embassy.

In 1955, the Department hired a Modernist architect, Richard Neutra, to design a new U.S Embassy in Karachi, one of a series of glass-and-concrete modern embassies it was then commissioning by top-tier architects such as Walter Gropius and Eero Saarinen. The new embassy office building was completed in 1959, and it consisted of a simple concrete rectangle raised on piers, with an eccentric out-sized portico entrance. It was in the middle of the downtown city core, and was set back 60 feet from a major road. Its only security feature was a steel picket fence between the building and the street. You can see it in the undated photo below, exactly as Neutra built it in the late 1950s.














The Department performed the first big security upgrade to the building in the late 1990s, which was to pour concrete over the picket fence, a quick and dirty way to turn the fence into a solid wall. A wall would be a more protective barrier than a fence in the event of a large car-bomb on the street.

The car-bomb came in 2002, a suicide attack that blew out a big hunk of the perimeter wall, but did no significant damage to the building. By chance, a large Banyan tree inside the compound caught most of the flying concrete chunks.














All the building's windows were blown in, but because the window glass had been treated with shatter-resistant film, that wasn't highly dangerous (as you can see from the post-blast photo of the consulate lobby, below). No one inside the consulate or its grounds was injured, but a dozen people on the street outside - guards, police, and passersby - were killed.
















After that incident, the main consulate office building was given up as impossible to protect. All staff were moved into new offices that were created inside a former warehouse that is located behind the main building and a bit farther away from the street. The cost to fit out and harden that warehouse was over $10 million.

In 2003 and 2004 there were more terrorist attacks on the consulate, including an unsuccessful attempted vehicle bomb and a successful attack on the police who guarded the vehicle approaches. During those years the Department sought to acquire a site outside the downtown core on which a new consulate could be constructed, but it was blocked by a lack of cooperation on the part of the Pakistani government.

In 2006 two consulate employees, a local driver and Facility Maintenance Officer David Foy, were killed when a suicide bomber attacked their car as it stopped at the last checkpoint before entering the consulate perimeter. A Pakistani Army Ranger detailed to the checkpoint was also killed. After their deaths, the Pakistani government finally approved the Department's purchase of a new construction site, on which the Office of Overseas Buildings Operations subsequently built the new consulate office and housing complex that opened this week.

The U.S. Mission in Karachi at last has a reasonably safe place in which to live and work, and that's a huge accomplishment. But we ought to be mindful that that result came about only after many years of effort and sacrifice by Americans and Pakistanis alike.

Read More

How a President Wears His Pants

The President of the United States puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone else. Only, when the President was Lyndon Baines Johnson, he wanted "a little more stride" than most men in the Presidential crotch. Of course he did; everything's bigger in Texas.

That's just one of the things we learn about LBJ and men's fashion in this nugget from the Presidential Recordings Program of the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia.

LBJ was rushing to a funeral on August 9, 1964, when he took a few minutes to call in very specific tailoring instructions to the Haggar pants company. Listen to the phone call here.

And by the way, the Haggar company still sells VIP trousers.

Read More

You Watcha You STEP

In light of the turmoil in Tunis and Niger, a commenter sent me this timely reminder:

Perhaps it is a good time for a shameless plug for STEP, the Smart Travel Enrollment Program for American Citizens traveling abroad.

Please register with the local (and friendly) American Citizen Services Unit online to receive local updates about situations on the ground & for better assistance in the case of an emergency.

Information can be provided here.

In one of my favorite novels, every time Brooklyn gang boss 'Kid Sally' Palumbo leaves the house his saintly grandmother, Big Mama, calls after him "you watcha you ass!" That's excellent advice, and it ought to be stamped on every U.S. passport.

Read More

Peace Corps Suspends Operations in Niger

U.S. Embassy Niamey put out this warden message today:

This warden message is to inform U.S. citizens that as a result of safety and security concerns, Peace Corps has decided to temporarily suspend their operations in Niger. U.S. Embassy operations in Niamey have not changed.

The local security environment has been tense for some time, especially outside the capital of Niamey. Previous warden messages noted that the embassy prohibits travel outside Niamey for Americans on official business, and that there is a kidnapping threat.

Peace Corps Volunteers are very fast on the keyboard. Although the Niger volunteers were evacuated to Rabat only last night, at least three have already blogged about the experience.

Peace Corps Niger has been suspended indefinitely due to security concerns. I had been at my amazing village for a nine days before I had to leave. All volunteers have been safely evacuated to Morocco for a transition conference where we will look at all our options. (Niger Rider)

This morning, at 5:30 a.m., I boarded a plane to Morocco and say goodbye to Niger, potentially for forever.

On Wednesday, Peace Corps Washington decided that terrorist activity, mainly Al Queada, in Niger has grown to dangerous levels and Americans are no longer safe. A suspension was issued for Peace Corps Niger and all volunteers were evacuated. All 97 Niger PCVS are now in Morocco for what is called a transition conference. We will spend the next few days discussing our options and officially ending our Niger service.

The last few days have been incredibly hard for all of us. I was at the PC training site for in-service training when the news was delivered and was flown to Zinder the next day so I could go to Dantchiao, pack my things and say goodbye. I had a total of one hour to leave behind the life that has given me so much and shaped me into a better person. I was allowed two nights in Zinder to continue organizing and bidding farewell. On Saturday, Team Zinder departed its home and we spent the night in Mardi and both teams continued on to Niamey for more briefing and the final night in Niger ... Words cannot describe how sucky this [is] ... My service has ended before it really began. (This Anasara Life)

I had only been there 48 hours (on Saturday) when I received the text message: two Frenchmen had been kidnapped in Niamey at a bar the night before. I sat in my concession for awhile thinking "this is not good." A little over a year ago, Peace Corps had given an optional Interrupted Service to volunteers and had removed an entire training class after an attempted kidnapping; this was much worse - they had been taken, there was no ransom, and they were killed during a rescue mission.

Still, I knew my villagers would do anything they could to protect me, and I still felt completely safe in my rural town. Then, Saturday afternoon, I had a terrifying experience that somewhat changed my perspective on things. I heard a motorcycle stop outside my concession, and soon after one of my host moms yelled that someone wanted to see me - I came outside to see a man in all camouflage holding a ginormous gun. Needless to say, I started mumbling words of terror in English and ran into my mom's house. Eventually, I figured out he was a policeman sent from a nearby village to come check on me after the night's events, but the whole encounter made salient to me how if something were to happen, I really wouldn't have many options.

-- snip --

Then, on Wednesday, my first day of work at the health hut, I got the call. It was a 6 minute 30 second conversation at 10:13 am, I hadn't even been there for two hours. "This is going to be really hard for me to say, so I'm just going to read it to you" ... I woke up my parents, at what was 1:30 am their time, tears streaming down my face, "They're pulling us out. I have to pack all of my things. Peace Corps is evacuating Niger." (Back in Africa)

Evacuation was probably the right call. Still, it's hard not to feel sympathy for the PCVs, who were a new group that had only just begun their two-year tour in Niger.

Read More

Authorized Departure for Tunis

U.S. Embassy Tunis sent out a warden message tonight:

The Department of State has authorized the departure of Embassy family members from Tunisia. U.S. citizens in Tunisia should closely examine their security situation in light of this and other recent developments and consider departing Tunisia. The U.S. Department of State has arranged for a chartered aircraft to transport departing personnel to Rabat, Morocco on early Tuesday morning, January 18, 2011.

Read the entire message here.

No doubt nerves are jangled as members of the embassy community get organized to move themselves and others to the airport on Tuesday morning. I understand that Tunisian troops at checkpoints are firing rounds in the air as a compliance tactic when they order vehicles to stop. Alarming, for sure, but so far I've seen no reports of deaths or injuries among expatriates in Tunis.

However, some British tourists stranded there have a complaint against British Airways. Check out this alarming headline:

1,500 Britons brave machete mobs: Anger at BA for flying tourists INTO war zone despite official warning:

Among [the stranded] were holidaymakers who were actually flown in to the North African country by British Airways on Friday, when the violence was at its height and the Foreign Office was warning Britons to leave.

-- snip --

Although package operators such as Thomas Cook and Tui, which owns First Choice and Thomson,laid on emergency flights to bring all their passengers home as soon as violence flared, BA has said it cannot change its schedule and the next flight home will not be until Wednesday.

I can imagine the dilemma. Let's say you're a Brit with a week or two of winter vacation and you want to spend it someplace warm. Tunisia is a highly popular destination. It's last Thursday, and you have nonrefundable tickets to Tunis on BA. Maybe you saw something on TV about the natives getting restless somewhere abroad, but no one really pays that much attention to the news. You call BA, and a guy there tells you that everything is cool.

So you took a little risk, and somehow you got stuck. Now you need lawyers, guns and money, just like the old song says:

Read More